Wine research from The Publican in association with:
In the second of our series focusing on the uncorked potential of wine in pubs, Andy Knott examines how wine sales can be boosted simply by making the drink more prominent throughout the venue.
Opportunity knocks. If there was one piece of information thrown up by the The Publican's wine research - carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres - that screamed opportunity for publicans it is this: 53 per cent of wine drinkers never drink wine in pubs. Eureka. Hallelujah. Praise the lord/union jack/Tony Blair/Robbie Williams/Jordan/whatever-else-takes-your-fancy.
Taking out of the equation the bunch of spoil-sports who never go to pubs this still leaves us with 42 per cent of wine drinkers who drink wine elsewhere - but never in pubs.
And why don't these people drink wine in pubs? Well, there were big groups who thought wine was expensive in pubs and who felt that pubs host a poor choice of wines. And this very group was the same as those who "never consider it". Just dwell on that fact: they... never... consider... it.
This is quite stupendous news for the pub trade, because all that needs to be done is to MAKE THEM DAMN WELL CONSIDER IT. And the most effective way of doing this is to increase visibility. Many onlookers are somewhat sceptical about whether this has been done with sufficient impact in the past.
Back-bar presence
Hew Dalrymple, director of marketing and strategy at the Waverley Group, speaks bluntly: "Sadly, in many cases, consumers find the on-trade lacking in terms of wine. At the bar, they've got to make their choice within 15 seconds. If the cues are not in place, they'll default and drink something other than wine. One easy method is to have an open bottle of wine at the bar on ice."
Tim North, UK director of Grand Chais de France, producer of JP Chenet, agrees. "Back-bar displays seem to me the best option, but whatever the choice, wine needs prominence and exposure for the customer to feel that it's an important part of a pub's repertoire," he said.
Publicans, however, consider back-bar presence to be only the third most important merchandising tool at their disposal. But the old merchandising cliché - "eye level is buy level" - still holds true.
The research also showed that wine consumption increases as the day progresses. Later in the day is precisely when the bar area is more crowded and drinkers are forced in to a quick decision about what they're going to drink. If they can't see it, and don't know it's there, they won't drink it.
Although consumers themselves don't recognise back-bar displays as important as other methods, it cannot be overstated. This is because back-bar displays have a subliminal effect. When Jacob's Creek did some research into why people weren't drinking wine in pubs, the most common reasons were either "I don't know what wines are available" or "it's easier to see what else is available".
Other drinks categories have long-established positions: beer and soft drinks on pump; spirits monopolising the back-bar; huge blocks of bottled beers and premium packaged spirits in fridges. Wine has yet to establish a permanent fixture. White is either in the fridge (although nowhere near as visible as bottled beers or premium packaged spirits) or on front-bar dispense, while red usually involves the odd open bottle close to hand on the back-bar.
A concerted effort by publicans to create wine back-bar displays will arguably serve to benefit not just the individual premises, but the entire pub category sector in general as consumers become familiar with wine's presence by seeing it in a consistent place.
Merchandising
Merchandising was a key factor for Waverley Group when it devised and launched the hugely successful Intro2 range for the on-trade. "We put an enormous amount of time and effort in to the packaging of Intro2 to enhance its visibility in pubs," explains Hew. "Each different wine is differentiated by colour, and we provided stands so outlets could display them vertically. This provided a full palette of colours which really jumped out at customers."
According to Chris Seale, head of marketing for wine at Pernod Ricard UK, which is responsible for Jacob's Creek, "wine distributors have had a difficult time in gaining acceptance for branded wines in the UK pub trade".
He added: "Jacob's Creek and many wine distributors alike have had to firstly educate publicans on the advantages of listing branded wines in their business. Now that branded wines are gaining further distribution in UK pubs, we are working more closely with outlets to advise them on how to best display and merchandise wine. Education on the benefits wine merchandising is certainly something we aim to do more of in the future."
Giving wine a prominent position was precisely the strategy of the huge wave of high street chains commonly called "premium branded", the likes of Pitcher & Piano, All Bar One, etc, which now seem part of the old furniture on the pub landscape, despite being around only as long as a teenager. The strategy is now starting to "trickle down" to the main body of pubs.
The Sovereign in Brighton has recently been refurbished, modernising what licensee Sam Reece refers to as "a dated, traditional pub". He's installed two fridges (one for white wine, one for champagne) alongside a display for red wine - all at eye level. "The reason we did this is simple. Wine's the biggest growth category and we wanted to ram that point home to our customers," reasons Sam.
Menus
The Sovereign, however, has not rested there. It has also drawn up wine menus: "Blackboards are of a bygone era. Wine menus are much more modern, and whatever you put on a table, customers will pick them up and have a look," continues Sam. Using more than one method to promote wine is something that most publicans do, with the average being between two and three (see chart below).
When asked what was the best merchandising tool, publicans ranked blackboards as most important, followed by wine lists, then back-bar presence. Customers seem to think somewhat differently. By far the most important for them was the wine menu, favoured by 41 per cent of respondents. The blackboard only attracted 18 per cent of respondents.
Something else that the consumer research revealed that advances the cause of wine lists is that descriptions are an influential factor in finalising their final choice of wine. It may surprise many of you that consumers consider a description more important than the price of the wine or its grape variety or style.
Another easy trick with wine is to offer recommendations to partner certain dishes on food menus. Those responding to The Publican's questionnaire estimated that 30 per cent of wine sold was served with food. Yet consumers' experience was the inverse: 63 per cent claimed that they drank wine with food in pubs, rising to 70 per cent of male respondents. Promoting wine with food is something that has been hugely successful for the White Horse in Parsons Green, South West London, where they recommend not only a glass or bottle of wine with each dish, but also a beer.
This food and wine combo also features very highly for consumers when asked what are the most influential promotions for wine in pubs. For males, it was their preferred choice. The only promotion that bettered it was "buy two large (250ml) glasses, get a bottle", and this was only favoured more by one percentage point (33 per